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The time had come… after a pleasant drive through the backroads of RI through the snow drifts and pines…

…so began the 2015 edition of the Whispering Pines Writers Retreat at the Alton Jones campus! This was a special year, though- the 20th anniversary of it’s beginning. I have been coming since I was the illustrator mentor in 2007. Every year is full of inspiration, bonding, and renewed vigor for our writing careers. It is also full of cake. SO MUCH CAKE. And food that magically appears. It is another world, to be sure.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt and Mary Pierce have been the co-directors for many years, and have decided to step down this year. There’s no way they would go out without a bang, and it started right away! KidLit Jeopardy was a great way to kick it off andstart on that bonding I was talking about. It’s always a laugh fest. My team came in 3rd place (pretty decent)!

My favorite category is BUNNIES.

 

Hayley Barrett gives Lynda a going-away present…

 

…and it was fascinating! “Embrace the journey” was a good theme for the whole weekend.   
Mary Pierce and Kristin Russo got mini trophies for being a driving force (literally) for the retreat.

 

NESCBWI RA Sally Riley and incoming retreat director Julie Kingsley  get commemorative staplers, for holding things together. Julie will be joined by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum as co-director of next year’s Whispering Pines retreat.

 

Co-director Mary receives a superhero cape for going up, up, and away above the usual requirements! 

 

Some of the mentors: agents Erin Murphy and Ammi-Joan Paquette, and editors Sylvie Frank, Kendra Levin, and Mallory Kass.
Laurie Murphy and Linda Crotta Brennan were recognized as the originators of the retreat 20 years ago.

 

Greenhouse Literary agent John Cusick gave great tips on ignoring the nagging voice that tells you you can’t write, and how to carve out legit writing time in your life. As both a writer and an agent, he knows intimately what he’s talking about.

Lynda and Mary pulled off a pretty incredible surprise by bringing back SIX previous mentors just to be on a panel about “what I wished I knew when I was starting out”. She had asked me casually to weigh in on this subject, but I didn’t know it would become a full-out panel discussion with all these fantastic writers and illustrators. Color me humbled. It was a real high point of the event!

 

Mentors, past and present: Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Kim Newton Fusco, Leslie Connor, Jennifer Thermes, Kelly Murphy, Erin Dionne, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Carlyn Beccia, Me, Barbara O’Connor, and Brian Lies. Thanks Pam Vaughan for this photo!

 

Agents Ammi-Joan Paquette and Erin Murphy turned the tables asked each other questions. Erin looks for things she didn’t know she liked until she read them; it’s the exceptions to the rules that grab her. Ammi-Joan is open to any genre and concedes that there is no one-size-fits-all path in a career.

 

First pages in the cozy lodge. The mentors really went above and beyond this year is their discussions of the first pages, giving us meaty and useful critiques.

 

Mallory Kass, Sylvie Frank, Kendra Levin, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Ammi-Joan Paquette, John Cusick, and Erin Murphy.
Carlyn, bringin’ the glamour and spreading it around. “Give me more zhush!”

 

Food. So much food. Food that we didn’t have to prepare, and dishes that magically disappeared after, only to be replaced by cake. Such is the way of Whispering Pines.

 

Writer girls Sandy Smith Budiansky and Brook Gideon. The smiles say it all.

 

Senior Editor Kendra Levin, from Viking, is not only a great editor, but a life coach. It was excellent to hear how she blends these ingredients to bring out the best in each book. I won’t think of elevators the same way again!

 

Jennifer O’Keefe has the uncanny ability to paint gorgeous watercolors during the retreat! 

 

Editor Sylvie Frank from Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books gave a great inside look at the editorial process. I loved how she makes her own dummies of manuscripts just to become one with the flow of each story. That’s dedication!

 

Kristin Russo stepping up and sharing her writing exercise.

 

Mallory Kass  from Scholastic looks for books that transport the reader, and immerse them in a new world. She seeks characters that have such a unique world view that it colors the reader’s view, too. She was quite a character herself, relating publishing to the dating world in a disturbingly accurate way!

 

Adieu, Whispering Pines, for another year. You never fail to bring out the best in everyone.

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The SCBWI Florida workshop in Orlando, FL consists of two days. The Friday is a day of intensives that work on a writer's craft in a particular genre.

This year I decided to stretch myself and took the picture book intensive with Sylvie Frank, associate editor at Holiday House, and Andrea Davis Pinkney, a New York Times best-selling and award-winning author and Vice President Executive Editor for Scholastic.

I was so impressed with the expertise and professionalism that both of these ladies had. After taking their workshop, I came away with new knowledge of how to use the economy of writing when creating a picture book as well as using a picture book dummy to determine if my pacing was on target. 

Excellent advice from Andrea was that there is no such thing as writer's block!

Sylvie had us create a picture book from paper so we could better understand how the picture book is laid out. Once we made ours, then we looked at the pacing of the picture book and how to determine if our story's pacing was strong enough. If you'd like to try, here's a great link to get you started.

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Hello, from Lake George in the Adirondacks. There are white caps on the blue lake, nestled amidst fading fall colors. This weekend, 35 children’s picture book writers gathered on the shore to schmooze, learn, talk, gossip, and passionately discuss the art and craft of writing a 32-page children’s picture book.

Thanks Nancy Castaldo, Regional Advisor of the Eastern NY SCBWI for a great retreat, an excellent editor’s weekend.

In attendance were 35 writers, who were fabulous. See pics on Facebook soon.

5 Picture Book Editors

Speaking were five editors: Sylvie Frank of Holiday House, Kelly Smith of Sterling, Dianne Hess of Scholastic, Marilyn Brigham of Marshall Cavendish, and Kate Fletcher of Candlewick.
(NOTE: Please see the publishers’ websites for submission info.)

Sylvie Frank, Holiday House

Sylvie Frank is the Miss Elizabeth Swan (from “Pirates”) of children’s literature; she’s a dashing woman who chooses to challenge herself by running a marathon. Sylvie’s mother is the children’s book author Martha Freeman, so Sylvie grew up with all things literary and the ups and downs of the publishing world. Look out–she’s going to make a name for herself! Sylvie brings a smart, sincere, yet fresh view to the field. She’s authentically excited about story possibilities and realistic about what it takes to bring a story to market. She’s interested in anything from picture book to YA.

Kelly Smith, Sterling Books